ESSAY
essay
(noun) a tentative attempt
essay
(noun) an analytic or interpretive literary composition
try, seek, attempt, essay, assay
(verb) make an effort or attempt; “He tried to shake off his fears”; “The infant had essayed a few wobbly steps”; “The police attempted to stop the thief”; “He sought to improve himself”; “She always seeks to do good in the world”
test, prove, try, try out, examine, essay
(verb) put to the test, as for its quality, or give experimental use to; “This approach has been tried with good results”; “Test this recipe”
Source: WordNet® 3.1
Etymology 1
Noun
essay (plural essays)
(authorship) A written composition of moderate length, exploring a particular issue or subject.
(obsolete) A test, experiment; an assay.
(now rare) An attempt.
(philately, finance) A proposed design for a postage stamp or a banknote.
Etymology 2
Verb
essay (third-person singular simple present essays, present participle essaying, simple past and past participle essayed)
(dated, transitive) To try.
(intransitive) To move forth, as into battle.
Anagrams
• Sayes, Sesay, eyass
Source: Wiktionary
Es"say, n.; pl. Essays. Etym: [F. essai, fr. L. exagium a weighing,
weight, balance; ex out + agere to drive, do; cf. examen, exagmen, a
means of weighing, a weighing, the tongue of a balance, exigere to
drive out, examine, weigh, Gr. 'exa`gion a weight, 'exagia`zein to
examine, 'exa`gein to drive out, export. See Agent, and cf. Exact,
Examine, Assay.]
1. An effort made, or exertion of body or mind, for the performance
of anything; a trial; attempt; as, to make an essay to benefit a
friend. "The essay at organization." M. Arnold.
2. (Lit.)
Definition: A composition treating of any particular subject; -- usually
shorter and less methodical than a formal, finished treatise; as, an
essay on the life and writings of Homer; an essay on fossils, or on
commerce.
3. An assay. See Assay, n. [Obs.]
Syn.
– Attempt; trial; endeavor; effort; tract; treatise; dissertation;
disquisition.
Es*say", v. t. [imp. & p. p. Essayed; p. pr. & vb. n. Essaying.]
Etym: [F. essayer. See Essay, n.]
1. To exert one's power or faculties upon; to make an effort to
perform; to attempt; to endeavor; to make experiment or trial of; to
try.
What marvel if I thus essay to sing Byron.
Essaying nothing she can not perform. Emerson.
A danger lest the young enthusiast . . . should essay the impossible.
J. C. Shairp.
2. To test the value and purity of (metals); to assay. See Assay.
[Obs.] Locke.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition